Before the whisper . . .
Back when I was in Seminary studying to be a pastor in St. Paul, MN, it was common practice for Sem students to spend their third year of school on site in a congregation. During the month of January assignments were given out as to where we would spend that year, beginning in late summer.
My advisor had strongly suggested that I work in a “traditional Lutheran church” as my church experiences were anything but traditional. Because Jan and I owned a house in St. Louis Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), we put in a request to do my internship somewhere within driving distance of our home.
Before the assignments were made, however, my wife received a call from her mom, who, along with Jan’s dad, were snow birding in Sun City, AZ. I knew nothing about Sun City or Arizona other than the fact that my in-laws spent six months there each year.
She said that they had just visited a very unique Lutheran church in Glendale, AZ called Community Church of Joy. The Pastor’s name was Walt Kallestad.
I knew of Walt. He was a part of a “band” doing that new Jesus/Contemporary Christian Music in the late 1960’s early 1970’s. We attended every concert near us.
Jan’s mom asked if we would be interested in doing our internship at Joy. I said to Jan, “As nicely as you can, let your mom know I’d prefer God to choose my internship site, not your mom!”
Two months later Jan and I were sitting in Walt’s office talking about my upcoming internship at Joy! It was the best thing that could have happened!
My internship ran from the fall of 1982 to the summer of 1983. I graduated early from Seminary and returned to Joy as the Associate Pastor in March of 1984.
Community Church of Joy
51st Ave & Bell, Glendale AZ
Community Church of Joy
75th Ave & Loop 101, Glendale AZ
Joy was built on 10 acres of land and soon ran out of space. In the 1990’s we purchased over 125 acres of land on 75th Ave and Loop 101 in Glendale, and in 1998 moved into a new worship facility on our new property. By that point, worship attendance averaged about 4,000 a weekend, with 60% or more of our congregation made up of people who had not been actively involved in a church for five years or more.
I had the joy (pun intended) of overseeing the worship life of Joy. Joy was already doing contemporary forms of worship when I arrived, but I was eager to move us more in the direction of Seeker worship—a service designed primarily for those with little to no worship experience.
After leading a contemporary Sunday Night worship service for several years (geared more toward Christians who wanted to grow in their faith), we launched a Seeker Service at a Harkins movie theatre around the corner from Joy. The Seeker Service put the emphasis on telling the story of Jesus through more performance-based music, dramas and interviews, and a relevant, Gospel-centered message. It downplayed congregation-based singing since the primary audience, non-church goers, didn’t know the songs.
Months later we moved that service back onto the Joy campus, replacing what had been a languishing last service with this new Seeker service. It became the fastest-growing service of our fast-growing church.
That style of worship became the heart-beat of Joy’s ministry for the next 20 years.
In addition to leading the worship team and designing worship services and special events (like Christmas shows), I oversaw the Joy Leadership Center. We were being asked by mainline church leaders from across the US and around the world how to do what we were doing. So I led the creation of four-day, on-the-campus conferences which also included a few off the campus events in places like Disney World, Disneyland, Australia, England, France, Norway, and Germany.
In the summer of 2004, Joy experienced some turbulence in terms of vision, direction, and finances. It caused a lot of uncertainty, as change often does. And for the first time in my ministry, I wasn’t sure of my place at Joy. It proved to be a challenging summer.
One fall morning, Walt called all of the pastors into his office (there were five of us) and asked each of us to pray about whether or not God still wanted us at Joy. Walt himself was handing in his resignation to the board, and if they wanted him to stay, he would.
By this point, we had made some significant changes to our organization, and my role shifted dramatically in response to the summer of turbulence. Rather than overseeing the worship life of the congregation, my focus was now on building the 9:35 worshipping community. I would in essence be their pastor, responsible for worship, community, and spiritual growth. And I loved it! In spite of the questions of the summer, I fully enjoyed what I had been doing at Joy up to that point. But this was a breath of fresh air for me, and a chance to do some new things.
So when Walt asked us to pray about our future at Joy, I told my wife, Jan, that I didn’t need to pray about it. I was in! Our original hope of doing my entire ministry at Joy seemed to be reaffirmed.
While we experienced renewed excitement over the mission of Joy at the 9:35 service, Joy was still in the midst of trying to chart a new vision. On top of that, the financial pressures continued to grow. That eventually led to discussions about a staff overhaul and some significant programming changes.
It was then that I began to hear God’s whisper…